Free Republic

Consolidation throughout the healthcare industry is increasing costs and driving more care through hospitals, the Physicians Advocacy Institute warned in a letter to Congress. Healthcare organizations have been joining forces to try to get ahead of the industry's shifting landscape. The number of physicians employed by hospitals and health systems grew by nearly 50% from 2012 to 2015, with a corresponding decline in the number of independently practicing physicians, according to the letter—supported with research from consultancy Avalere Health—sent to the House Energy & Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee. The decline of the independent medical practice and lack of...

Earlier today I called to make an appointment (routine check-up), at one of the Family Medicine offices of Reading Hospital/Tower Health, in Reading, PA. I was a patient a few years ago, but because it's been that long, I'm considered a new patient. I was just about floored when they said that ALL of their family medicine offices/doctors in all locations are booked out until JANUARY 2018, for new patients! This happens often with specialists, where you have to wait weeks or even months for an appointment. In fact I'm in a 2-month wait to see a specialist in mid-December....

A few weeks ago, patients of Dr. Chad Savage received an alarming email. The Brighton, Michigan, primary care physician told them that because of skyrocketing medical costs such as “expensive medications, crushing doctor bills and double digit insurance premium increases,” he would have to raise his own office rates. By…. $0. “Yup! That’s right. Nothing! Zero, nada, zip,” his note said. As a direct primary care (DPC) physician, Savage — not insurance companies or government regulators — sets his own rates. His patients pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to office visits and free in-office testing and procedures. And...

AMY MOSES and her circle of self-employed small-business owners were supporters of President Obama and the Affordable Care Act. They bought policies on the newly created New York State exchange. But when they called doctors and hospitals in Manhattan to schedule appointments, they were dismayed to be turned away again and again with a common refrain: “We don’t take Obamacare,” the umbrella epithet for the hundreds of plans offered through the president’s signature health legislation. “Anyone who is on these plans knows it’s a two-tiered system,” said Ms. Moses, describing the emotional sting of those words to a successful entrepreneur....

Federal health officials refuse to give Congress hundreds of subpoenaed documents on Obamacare’s failed co-ops so that people will continue enrolling in the deeply troubled program, a congressional leader said Tuesday. Twelve of the 23 co-ops created in 2011 under Obamacare at a cost of $2.4 billion have failed, and another eight of the remaining 11 are likely to go under this year. But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) won’t hand over documents subpoenaed months ago by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz  82% , who chairs the House...

Mountains of Obamacare-related paperwork and the threats of severe fines for the slightest errors are forcing many doctors to retire and others to shut down their practices and work under the protection of hospitals, and all of it spells bad news for patients.Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner says the exodus is alarming, as evidenced by a Physicians Foundation report showing the number of doctors who say they run an independent practice has dropped from 62 percent in 2008 to 35 percent in 2014. The survey of 20,000 physicians also shows only 17 percent in solo practice. Eighty-one percent of doctors are at full capacity...

Government health officials worked diligently this year to improve consumer experience on Healthcare.gov and make sure people know what they are getting for their money when they pick health insurance. But one thing is out of the government's control: whether doctors and hospitals will agree to accept patients who buy these plans. Surveys and data are limited, so it's difficult to gauge the extent of the issue, but anecdotal evidence from patients and providers show it is a struggle. Some newly insured patients wonder whether it's worth paying for coverage they can't actually use. Even when they do find a...

Don't expect your doctor to stand up and protest about how the Affordable Care Act is responsible for so many of the health care problems that patients face today. As a physician and a dentist in private practice, we have spent the past five years making the case that the ACA is harming our patients. While we get many varied and complex questions from them, the one question always asked is a simple one, but one with a more complex answer: "Why aren't more doctors speaking out?" The primary reason is fear. Doctors are afraid of their new bosses —...

There is unprecedented demand for physician assistants as insurance payment and the Affordable Care Act encourage a team-based approach to managing the care of patient populations. A snapshot of this trend can be seen in a new report by The Medicus Firm, a national physician recruiter, which said physician assistants (PAs) rose to No. 5 among its top 10 most frequently placed medical care providers in 2014, outstripping several categories of medical doctors. Primary care doctors continue to hold the top three spots with family physicians at No. 1, followed by hospitalist doctors and internists at No. 3. Just a...

One thing I have often pointed out about the Affordable Care Act (ACA alias Obamacare) is that very few doctors participated in the conceptualization of the legislation. The final bill focuses on expanding Americans’ access to health insurance with a total disregard for increasing the supply of medical professionals or facilities for treatment. Some doctors are directing their efforts to educating their patients and the voting public of what they believe the bill is doing to harm patient care.To better learn the effects upon doctors and thus their patients of this new law, I had a conference call with a...

“Obamacare’s shoddy implementation doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of its great evil,” reported Breitbart late last year, referring to the healthcare rationing that is insidiously hidden within the pages of the evasive law. Perhaps the most alarming criterion of healthcare rationing found in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the plan’s death panel language.Democrats vehemently denied that death panels would play a role in the ACA, but the law itself states that doctors will be paid to have discussions with patients about living wills, advance directives, and end-of-life options.Killing patients whose perceived utility is declining is not exclusively...

Next year, doctors and hospitals will no longer get paid according to the fee for services model. They will get a fixed salary according to how well patients do. We will see the equivalent of patient report cards. Personalized care is out, government one-size fits all healthcare is in. The more tests, scans, surgeries that hospitals and doctors do, the less they will make. What could possibly go wrong? It will have a devastating effect on patients’ access to care. Patients who come back for the same problem will be included in the one-time bulk rate. Beginning next year, Medicare,...

The Obama administration on Monday announced an ambitious goal to overhaul the way doctors are paid, tying their fees more closely to the quality of care rather than the quantity. Rather than pay more money to Medicare doctors simply for every procedure they perform, the government will also evaluate whether patients are healthier, among other measures. The goal is for half of all Medicare payments to be handled this way by 2018. Monday’s announcement marks the administration’s biggest effort yet to shape how doctors are compensated across the health-care system. As the country's largest payer of health-care services, Medicare influences...

Hey, are you one of the 9.7 million Americans who have been put onto the Medicaid rolls since 2013 mostly as a result of theAffordable Care Act? Congratulations! But that and $2.75 will get you one ride on the New York City subway. That's because finding a doctor who accepts Medicaid payments – never all that easy to do even before 2013 – is getting harder than ever thanks to a steep drop in reimbursement rates for doctors who treat patients on Medicaid. When I say "steep," I mean it. We're talking an average of 43 percent nationwide and almost...

WASHINGTON — Just as millions of people are gaining insurance through Medicaid, the program is poised to make deep cuts in payments to many doctors, prompting some physicians and consumer advocates to warn that the reductions could make it more difficult for Medicaid patients to obtain care.

Andy Pasternak, a family doctor in Reno, Nev., has seen more than 100 new Medicaid patients this year after the state expanded the insurance program under the Affordable Care Act. But he won’t be taking any new ones after Dec. 31. That’s when the law’s two-year pay raise for primary care doctors like him who see Medicaid patients expires, resulting in fee reductions of 43 percent on average across the country, according to the nonpartisan Urban Institute. The challenge is to convince physicians not just to continue accepting such patients but to take on more without getting paid what they’re...

Kevin McCarthy of Thousand Oaks, California, was surprised last spring, when he learned his family doctor of 14 years could not accept the Blue Shield insurance he'd purchased under Obamacare. He said he was "outraged" because when he was shopping for his policy, Blue Shield confirmed his doctor was covered. "We were duped," McCarthy said. "Hoodwinked is another good term." Here's what happened. Insurance companies -- to save money -- are quietly selling what are called "narrow networks." They sharply restrict the number of doctors and hospitals people can see. In some cases, people may be limited to 30 percent...

http://www.usatoday.com/longform/news/nation/2014/11/12/rural-hospital-closings-federal-reimbursement-medicaid-aca/18532471/

It's not just patient sentiment against Obamacare that has soured lately. A stunning 215,000 doctors (and rising) refuse to accept Obamacare patients. BREAKING: 200 Thousand Doctors Dump ObamacareGary Franchi ended the above video with this thought: "It seems the biggest lie Obama told was calling his wide sweeping healthcare law - affordable". Related Stories CNN Money: Got Obamacare, can't find doctorsMiami Herald: Some South Florida docs decline to accept ObamacareForbes: When Will The Government Start Forcing Doctors To See Obamacare Patients?Daily Kos: Doctor Refuses Patient Because She Has ObamacareGodfather Politics: Doctors Refusing Obamacare Patients Good News - Bad News Good...

An increasing burden of paperwork, tied in part to healthcare reforms driven by Obamacare, now consumes about one-sixth of a typical America physician’s day — impinging on the time doctors can spend caring for patients. That’s the upshot of a new study led by Harvard Medical School researchers who found the average doctor spends 16.6 percent of his or her working hours on non-patient-related paperwork. The findings, which are based on a nationally representative survey of physicians, tied the trend to changes in U.S. health policy — including a shift to employment in large practices, the implementation of electronic medical...